Author: Doug

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone from the Clarke family

It has been another busy year. I can hardly believe that Emma will graduate this year and that Rory will be a Star Scout – and going to high school next year. Some of the highlights from this last year include Cindy and Emma going to Northern Tier, Rory and I going to Mine-Con, Emma’s time at Venturing Rendezvous, Rory’s appearance in two plays, Cindy’s physical training, and my continued writing.

This last summer Cindy and Emma went to Northern Tier in Manitoba Canada. I’m not sure if the months of preparation or the actual trip was harder. Northern Tier is one of the Boy Scout’s high adventure camps. Cindy and Emma went on a week long canoeing trip with seven other scouts. The primitive setting and physical challenges of lifting their canoes over beaver dams and portaging through the mud took them to the breaking point, but they both came back stronger for the experience.

Rory and I traveled to Las Vegas in the early morning to participate in Mine-Con, which is a convention based around the game of Mine Craft. Cindy and Grandma Arlene made Rory a costume which as was a hit with the other attendees. Rory got to spend time with one of his new friends and meet many of the celebrities he has watched on Youtube the last year. Rory is already trying to figure out how to get to next years convention – possibly in Europe

Venturing has been a big part of Emma’s life this last year. Besides being elected as the president of her crew last the spring, she was also elected the president of the San Diego Imperial County Venturing Officer’s Association. For her the highlight was the Venturing Rendezvous. The theme this year was Island Adventures. Besides helping to plan the weekend activities at camp Fiesta Island, Emma found great enjoyment in the sense of community she has found.

Rory was in two plays this last year. In “Willy Wonka” he played the head umpa lumpa – both interacting with the main characters and joining all the other umpa lumpas in many songs. In the play “13”, Rory was cast as Eddy. He had both speaking lines as well as a number of songs he sang in – including a duet. His many long hours of practice paid off in great performances.

Cindy’s greatest challenge this year was physically preparing for the trip with Emma to the back country of Manitoba Canada, Because of her long time of inactivity the challenge was huge. She was blessed with a wonderful personal trainer that was both sensitive to her emotional issues as well as being very good at pushing her physically. In her months of training she became stronger and gained the stamina required for the trip. Emma joined in some of the training and then through the preparation and the week in the wilderness they have formed a much tighter bond.

I have continued with my writing. I finished the two line a day stories I had been working on and published my 28th newsletter. I wrote another Christmas story and continue to work on revising my novel. I spent a while this year working on an iPad application with a young woman I met a Comic-Con last year. Unfortunately we had to stop working on it as she started working a full time job.

Cindy and the kids spent two weeks in Sedro Woolley with her parents and her brother’s family. The trip to Sedro Woolley is always one of the favorite of the year.

We continue to reach out to others to share our gift of hospitality. We had a young man from Germany live with us for six months and he even joined us on our yearly trek to Mexico to build houses and joined us for Comic-Con the weekend that he left.

We spent Thanksgiving with my Mom/Bill and my Brother’s family this year. I have been working to improve my Dutch Oven cooking skills and this year for I cooked seven Thanksgiving dishes in my mother’s backyard for our feast together.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope that the New Year will find you have many happy times with family and friends.

Doug, Cindy, Emma, and Rory Clarke

The value of a newsletter

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Two years ago I started sending out a monthly newsletter. It has been a challenge to find something new to write about each month, but I think it has been a good exercise for me. I’ve built the email list to 53 in these last two years.

Any suggestions on how to increase the numbers?

Here is a link to the most recent issue.

http://hathrae.com/newsletters/Unremembered_Loss_Issue_24.pdf

My question: Is there value in doing a newsletter? Am I doing them right?

For a non-fiction audience I know what a newsletter looks like. I’m not so clear on a fiction one.

Doug

Flattr

I just signed up for this new service (still in beta) called Flattr.

It lets you specify an amount of money that you would like to spend each month (starting at 2 euros) and then lets you pick web sites to spend it on. At the end of each month if takes the money you said you wanted to spend that month and splits it evenly between all the sites you clicked on.

If you click on a lot of sites then each will only get a few cents, but if lots of people give sites a few cents it can add up.

I’ve signed up and now I’m looking for sites to flattr.

Hope you will do the same. Click on the flattr button on the left side of this page to flattr me or to get more information.

The Park Bench

Jennifer walked through the park. Her steps were slow and measured. Her toes caught in the snow as she slugged along. She wasn’t sure were she was; she had been walking aimlessly for an hour. She didn’t really know where she was going, which explained the aimlessness. Her present situation kind of summed up her last week — wondering.

“I could get a cup of coffee,” she said to herself. “There are lots of people at Starbucks.” The little smile that had formed on her face quickly faded.

She walked on through the snow, following the footsteps etched there by a hundred previous travelers. She tried to match her steps to some of them. Some were to far apart. Others were to small to fit her feet. Every once in a while she would find a set that seemed just right, but after a few steps they would be gone and she found herself wanting again.

She walked along a string of benches. Each sitting by itself on the side of the path. Each covered in a thin blanket of snow; unbroken snow speaking to the truth that no one had sat on them since the last snow.

She walked over to one and spun around, dropping herself onto the snow covered bench. She felt the snow squish beneath her. She felt its coldness through her jacket. As she felt the snow disappearing it was replaced with the hardness of the bench. Its sturdy wooden planks feeling hard and unyielding. Its coldness was deeper than the snow that had been one it.

She sat there on the cold bench, next to the snow covered path. A tear rolled down her cheek and dripped onto her lap. There it froze, like the rest of her emotions. One tear, that was all she would allow herself.

She got up from the bench much more slowly than she had sat upon it. She turned around and looked at the mark she had left on it. A blemish in the uniform precession of benches. A mark that said this one was different. This one had been chosen, but like the rest it was now empty. Maybe even more empty than the rest because now it didn’t even have its thin layer of snow to keep it company.

She took a step back and a frown appeared on her face. “What right do I have to bother you,” she said to the bench. “What did you ever do?”

The bench of course didn’t answer her. It just sat there looking disheveled, maybe frowning back at her. Jennifer turned back to the path; back to the tracks. She took a few steps, then froze. She turned back to the bench and stared at it. “You look so sad. How could I leave you like this.” She took the few steps back to the bench. “You deserve better than this. People shouldn’t just use you and leave you. You deserved to be cared for; to be loved.”

Jennifer dropped down on her knees in front of the bench. She reached out her arm and wiped the snow away. With big sweeping motions she knocked the snow from the seat, from the back, even from the arms. She used her fingernails to break off the pieces of ice frozen there.

When she was done, she stood up again. “There, that’s better. Now people will know that someone cares for you; that you are special.”

Jennifer smiled as she looked at her handy work. “See, I can be a friend. I know what to do even if no one else does.” She took a few steps back. She turned again to start her wondering again. She took a few more steps this time, but once again she stopped and turned around.

She saw the next bench sitting there covered with its thin blanked of snow. Without another thought she walked to this bench and cleared it of snow.

“Now you won’t be alone. People will see you both and know that you are a pair; that you belong together.”

Jennifer nodded. “It’s good to belong together,” she said to herself.

“But you should be together, not sitting separately.” She walked up to the first bench and started pulling it towards the second. She twisted it so it faced the other bench instead of the path. Then she she grabbed the second bench and spun it around so it was facing the first. “Good. Now you to can see each other. You can be together. Who ever though that you should each be alone. None of us should be alone. Maybe now some people will walk by here and see you two and see that if they sit with you that can keep from being alone.”

More tears starting falling from Jennifer’s cheeks. This time she didn’t try to stop them. This time she understood why she was crying and knew that it was okay to cry.

Jennifer walked down to the next pair of benches. She cleaned then and moved them so they could see each other. Then she went to next pair, then the next, until she and reached the last one.
She cleaned it of snow and then looked at it. “I’m sorry. I have no friend to put you with. It’s not that I don’t care; I do.”

She stood there, not moving.

“I know, I’ll sit with you a while.” Jennifer sat down on the bench and looked around. She saw the trees and the path she had been walking down. She saw the line of benches, now facing each other in pairs. She smiled.

Her contentment was interrupted by a voice.

“Can I sit with you for a while?”

She turned her head towards the voice. She saw a young woman standing there.

The woman continued, “I’ve seen you working. You look like the kind of person I would like to know.”

Jennifer smiled and said, “That would be nice. I’ve been wishing that I could meet someone.